Tata Docomo launches Ugadi offer (India)
India’s Tata Docomo has launched a special ‘Ugadi Offer’ for all its prepaid, postpaid customers including 3G e-stick customers in Karnataka.
As per the offer, customers can have free talk time on various recharge vouchers including US$0.53, $0.64, $1.33, $1.44, $1.53, $1.99, $2.17 and $3.99 and get a chance to win gold. One winner would get to win a bumper prize of 100gms gold, four customers can win 50gms gold, eight customers can win 10gms gold, sixteen customers can win 5gms gold and 100 customers can win 1gm gold. This offer is applicable till April 5.
MTS, Tata DOCOMO launch special offers for World Cup
With the upcoming Cricket World Cup, telecom companies are coming up with new offers to attract customers and get more business in the season.
MTS has announced that it is offering free local and national SMS for its subscribers on every run that will be scored by the Indian cricket team.
If a player hits a ball for six runs, then a MTS subscriber will get 6 SMS free. This offer will be provided to those MTS customers who opt for recharge voucher (RCV) of US$5.57 from the company. This RCV will give a talk time of US$6.64 to MTS customer. These free SMSs can be sent by customers to any local or national number in India.
According to Leonid Musatov, Chief Marketing Officer, Sistema Shyam Teleservices, these initiatives have been specially designed to add to the cheer of their customers every time India wins a match in this world cup.
Tata DOCOMO has introduced two new RCVs in the name of ‘not-out’ for S$1.26 and $2.27, respectively. Both RCVs offer talk-time worth US$0.61 and US$1.12, respectively, which can be used to make voice calls and are valid for 30 days.
According to Rishi Mohan Malhotra, Head, Value-Added Services, Tata DOCOMO, when you think of cricket, it’s all about fun, passion, excitement, celebration and winning and 57 and 103 Not Out are precisely that.
By using these RCVs, subscribers will be able to dial 54321194 and listen to 5 minutes or 10 minutes of cricket updates on every match day.
The other bundles offers with these RCV are one-month free subscription to an IVR-based voice game called Guess Master. The game is about guessing the winner of the day’s toss, the match-winner, scores made in each innings and 6s and 4s scored in each innings.
Subscribers can bid points on each guess and every correct answer will increase their chance to double their points. Post the World Cup, subscribers can redeem their total points for various gifts like Team India Jerseys, Shoes, I-Pods and LCD TVs.
RCVs also offer subscribers free subscription to the My Song service, wherein they can listen to live scores each time they call someone from their Tata DOCOMO number. Match scores will be played on match days whereas, on non-match days, subscribers’ chosen music will be played.
Additionally, subscribers who opt for 103 Not out Recharge Voucher will get free subscription to Call Me Tunes. This will enable him to listen to live score updates instead of ring tones.
Data service subscribers of Tata DOCOMO can download cricket games, wallpapers and animations related to cricket for free via Dive In.
Tata DoCoMo will trail NFC based payment service in Hyderabad (India)
Indian telecom operator Tata DoCoMo in partnership with XIUS will trial Near Field Communications (NFC) based mobile payments in Hyderabad.
Initially, operator based services like mobile phone top-up as well as content like ringtones and wallpapers will be on offer.
Tata DoCoMo will use the NFC based payments to increase its retail points of presence and expand the availability of services to coffee shops and most interestingly, through self-service Active Posters.
Active Posters are paper-thin-self-service terminals with glass touch sensing, enabling as many as 18 retail touch points at any customer gathering point.
Tata DoCoMo launches Name Tunes service (India)
Tata DoCoMo in collaboration with mCarbon has launched a value added service called Name Tunes service.
The service allows the subscriber to greet callers with their name and a personalized message of their choice from a set their template messages, instead of listening to a traditional ‘tring-tring’ or a musical caller tune.
To activate this service, subscribers have to SMS “First Name” to a special number provided by the company. Subscription charges for the service will be US$0.66 per month and Name Tune download will be charged for US$0.33 for 90 days.
DoT asks for MNP status report from telecom firms (India)
DoT has asked all mobile phone companies to submit a detailed status report by Wednesday on the first wave of implementation of mobile number portability (MNP).
The move comes after the department’s monitoring wing received several complaints that customers of all operators were facing difficulty porting out from their existing service providers.
Each mobile phone company has been asked to submit a detailed factsheet on the total number of port-outs, port-ins and the number of successful unique porting codes (UPCs) generated since January 20.
Senior executives of mobile phone companies that have attracted maximum complaints from customers are likely to be summoned this week by the telecoms ministry to resolve matters expeditiously.
According to a Director in Telecom Ministry’s Term Cell, customers who have been trying to port-out for the past 10 days have misgivings about virtually every service provider, be it Aircel, Bharti Airtel , RCOM, Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular, Tata DoCoMo to BSNL. Which is why, they have asked all operators to make detailed submissions on their UPCs generated so far, along with the total number of people who wish to port out and port into their respective networks during the first week of MNP implementation. They reckon it is teething trouble as every operator realizes that forcibly holding onto a customer would be a limited game that would come to nought in the long run. The Term Cell is the DoT’s vigilance wing that is tracking MNP implementation on a pan-India basis.
While executives at Vodafone Essar, Bharti Airtel and Anil Ambani-promoted RCom stated that they had received a copy of the DoT directive seeking a status report on MNP implementation so far. Though it could not be independently confirmed, industry executives familiar with the matter revealed that Aircel’s national retail network team was working the round the clock to address teething issues linked to MNP implementation. It is learnt that the Aircel network has logged a meaty 29000 port-in requests over the past 10 days.
DoT refuses RCOM plea for additional spectrum (India)
DoT has rejected Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Communication’s plea for additional 2G airwaves for its GSM based mobile services, and has also put on hold similar pending applications from other new entrants.
According to telecom ministry’s internal note it is not appropriate to process additional spectrum requests from any operator, including RCOM, since sector regulator TRAI was looking into the feasibility of pricing additional airwaves.
RCOM, which had been awarded 4.4 MHz of start-up GSM radio frequencies in most circles, had demanded for additional 1.8 units of spectrum on the grounds that this was the minimum amount committed to the company when it obtained approvals to launch services on this technology platform in 2008. Additional airwaves are given to companies after their subscriber base grows to touch certain pre-defined targets – these figures differ from state to state.
RCOM in its application for additional airwaves had also pointed out that TRAI’s latest recommendations say additional airwaves must first be made available to new entrants who have already been awarded start-up spectrum to help them perform their operations efficiently.
This implies that companies which hold 4.4 MHz of start-up spectrum will be given first priority to enhance this to 6.2 MHz for no additional cost. Next in line will be incumbents that currently hold less than 8 MHz of airwaves. Their holding will be enhanced to the 8 MHz cap provided they meet rollout obligations and pay the one time fee.
TRAI had added last in queue will be new entrants like Tata DoCoMo and Uninor, which are yet to receive start-up airwaves in many circles.
It is also learnt that the telecom ministry had decided to put on hold additional airwave allocations to all existing companies in a bid to avoid any legal complications.
This is because, Tata Teleservices told the telecom department that any move to award 2G spectrum according to a formula prescribed by the regulator would amount to serious discrimination against the company, while adding that the company had first rights to these scarce resources.
The telco, in which Japan’s DoCoMo has a 26% stake, also stated that any move to award additional airwaves first to operators that already had start-up spectrum of 4.4 MHz would favour a single company and would be discriminatory to others.
Tata Tele has been agitating with the government after the telecom department’s legal wing recently endorsed a proposal by TRAI which stated that additional airwaves should first be made available to new entrants who have already been awarded start-up spectrum to help them perform their operations efficiently.
While the implementation of this proposal will benefit RCOM in all circles, it will result in operators such as Tata DoCoMo and Uninor which are yet to receive start-up airwaves in many circles being placed last in the priority queue for airwaves, and these companies will not stand any chance to get startup 2G spectrum in circles like Delhi.
Tata DoCoMo launches T24 mobile service in Gujarat (India)
Tata DoCoMo has launches its new ‘T24′ mobile service in Gujarat, a brand launched in alliance with the retail chain giant Future group.
According to Tata DoCoMo COO Gujarat Nipun Sharma, it is a unique marketing alliance between a retailer group and telecom operator that offers customers free talk time on purchases or recharges made at any of the Future group outlets.
Future group that operates store chains like Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar and Pantaloons will be offering this new service from 23 of its big stores spread across seven towns in Gujarat including Anand, Vapi, Surat and Bharuch.
According to Future Group CEO Telecom Mayur Toshniwal, this new service, which is on a franchise model, will be offered from all of their 23 large outlets spread across seven towns in Gujarat. They shall open two more retail stores in Bhavnagar and Mehsana in Gujarat over next 6-8 months period.
According to Toshniwal, the new service has received encouraging response from its launch in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) has forged alliances with Virgin mobile, Quippo for passive infrastructure(towers), Japan’s NTT DOCOMO for GSM services and Future group for T24.
